Welcome to the 25th edition of Probable Cause. This is our fourth episode on the ‘Real’ case of Dennis Hastert. In our first segment I explained the case and predicted that it would be dropped or limited to eliminate airing the truth through real court hearings, and provided you with the broad picture of involved interests and those with much at stake if the case were to proceed as a real case. In our second episode we went back twenty years to when the new FBI covert and illegal operations targeting high-profile US officials began. And in our previous episode I covered the three-year period between 1999 and 2002 when the operation in question became complicated by inadvertently collected unwanted information, loss of control over lower-level FBI agents, and the change of administration in January 2001.

For this episode we are going to talk about the intentional and consistent censorship by the US mainstream media and pseudo-alternatives in the Real Case of Dennis Hastert. We are going to list some of the major omissions and blackouts in the case and pose the question why.

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has reached a plea deal to keep the details of his case sealed for good. Given that prosecutors wanted the details under wraps and the Judge donated to Hastert's campaigns on multiple occasions, was there any doubt this would happen?

*Stay tuned to BoilingFrogsPost.com and CorbettReport.com for more details about the case, what really happened and what it really means.

A scandal too deep, too dark, and covers too many people from both sides of the political aisle for it to ever proceed in public

When former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was first indicted, the mainstream press treated it as a story of a long-ago transgression that has long since been swept under the rug. But a series of revelations from FBI whistleblowers reveal that this story is just the tip of a very seedy iceberg, one that implicates Hastert, his top aide, other Congress members and government officials in a criminal network involved in sexual intrigue, foreign espionage, blackmail, and drug money...

*Information on Dennis Hastert and ‘others’ are also covered in my books Classified Woman & The Lone Gladio. For this campaign, until October 31, we are offering both e-books under $2. Please spread the word; for truth & integrity.

Three FBI Field Offices, Four Agents, One Linguist, and A Bucket Full of Dirties … Literally Right & Left

Welcome to the 24th edition of Probable Cause. This is our third episode on the ‘Real’ case of Dennis Hastert. In our first segment I briefly explained the case and why it is likely to be dropped or lost-on-purpose, and provided you with the broad picture of involved interests and those with much at stake if the case were to proceed as a real case. In our second episode we went back twenty years to when the new FBI covert and illegal operations targeting high-profile US officials, elected and appointed, began.

For this episode I’ll be covering the three-year period between 1999 and 2002 when the Executive Branch’s ‘Perfect Plan’ became complicated by inadvertently collected unwanted information, loss of control over lower FBI agents leading multiple and overlapping operations, and the change of administration in January 2001- the period when their good plan proved to be far from a perfect plan. During this period the executive branch’s select COINTELPRO II bucket turned into a big can of worms- a can that was filled with not only dirty Republican representatives but dirty Democrats as well. A can that contained not only elected officials but several high-profile appointed figures- some of whom became major visible players in the new administration.

As always, our next episode will be based on your reaction, critique, responses and questions posed in the comments section below.

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has again asked a federal judge to delay the deadline for pre-trial motions in his criminal hush-money case.

Hastert’s attorneys and prosecutors filed a joint motion today asking for another two-week extension. Ten days ago, on September 11, 2015, they had asked for a delay, which was granted.

As with the previous one, the new motion repeats that both sides, Hastert’s legal team and government prosecutors, are discussing issues Hastert "may raise in pretrial motions." Neither party has offered any details.

BFP Report has been publishing a series on the Hastert case, involved entities with much at stake if the case were to proceed as a real case, and various methods that could be implemented to limit or end the case. The back-to-back filings for the delay, consented by both parties, and the announcement by Hastert’s legal team on their intention to file a motion to dismiss all charges, point to the likelihood of the case being dropped.

There are grounds on which the parties may agree to have the charges dropped. Despite refusal by both parties to offer any details on the matters under negotiation, there are solid indicators pointing to the pressure points that are being utilized by Hastert’s attorneys to make the case go away. Here are some likely grounds that are being exploited by Hastert’s legal team to get the charges dropped (For more in-depth analyses see here, here and here).

Graymail Tactic

Based on previous government surveillance and evidence files on Hastert and past court cases directly related to the Hastert case, the defense may be utilizing the legal tactic commonly known as graymail.

Graymail is the threatened revelation of state secrets in order to manipulate legal proceedings. It is used as a defense tactic, forcing the government to drop a case to avoid revealing national secrets. Graymail can occur in two ways:

To straight forwardly blackmail the government, forcing it to drop the case using the threat that if the trial moves forward the defendant will reveal classified information he or she already knows.

To request the use of classified material as evidence in the trial, with an expectation that the government will be unwilling to make the material fully available to the case, and that this will raise the possibility, in the eyes of the judge or jury, that the unreleased material might clear the defendant, making it difficult to prove guilt.

Dennis Hastert and his legal team possess more than enough leverage to successfully execute these methods to force the government to drop all charges.

Hastert’s team has leverage to argue that the recent criminal investigation against Hastert was the extension and or continuation of previous operations that were targeting and surveilling Hastert during his tenure in the U.S. Congress. Based on this they could ask for all files and documents gathered on him dating back to 1996.

Hastert’s attorneys can easily point to the multi-page exposé by Vanity Fair Magazine on Hastert published in September 2005. The article was published based on disclosures from several credible witnesses from the FBI and DOJ regarding criminal evidence obtained on Hastert based on the FBI’s counterintelligence investigations from their Chicago and Washington D.C. Field Offices.

The counterintelligence operation in question was targeting the Turkish lobby and associated networks in the US. Hastert was said to have knowingly received foreign bribery from these networks, and engaged in illegal campaign financing and other financial fraud activities.

Less than two years after the publication of the exposé by Vanity Fair Hastert left the US Congress. Six months after leaving the House, Hastert began reaping the benefits of serving Turkish interests in Congress by joining the firm Dickstein Shapiro as a lobbyist representing the Turkish government, among other clients. He worked jointly with former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, sometimes traveling together to Turkey, and splitting millions of dollars in lucrative lobbying fees.

Knowing that the Department of Justice and the FBI have repeatedly invoked State Secrets Privilege in cases that entailed counterintelligence information on illegal foreign lobby operations in the United States, many of which included Hastert, Hastert’s attorneys can reasonably expect a similar response from the Department of Justice today. Meaning, if faced with discovery requests involving the FBI’s two-decades long files and operations related to Hastert, obtained via counterintelligence operations involving foreign lobbies in the U.S., the government would invoke classification and state secrets privilege again.

Blackmail Tactic

Hastert’s legal team can easily resort to indirect or direct blackmail that can lead to partial or complete dropping of the charges against Dennis Hastert.

Based on past cases, reports and disclosures Hastert’s attorneys can threaten the government with exposing its illegal domestic surveillance operations between 1996 and 2002 that were in violation of FISA laws. The attorneys can point to reports filed in 2002 with the DOJ Inspector General’s Office regarding ongoing FBI counterintelligence operations targeting public officials in violation of ELSUR (Electronic Surveillance) and FISA regulations.

In 2007, the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), obtained and released a copy of an official complaint filed by veteran FBI Special Agent Gilbert Graham with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG). SA Graham’s protected disclosures report the violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in conducting electronic surveillance of high-profile U.S. public officials.

The illegal domestic surveillance operations began with the White House classified directive issued in 1996 directing the DOJ-FBI to begin conducting a new domestic operation using its counterintelligence divisions and bypassing FISA regulations in response to two sexual scandals, Jones and Lewinsky, and the likely risk of impeachment. Dennis Hastert, Bob Livingston and Dan Burton, were among those targeted by the operation.

Hastert’s legal team can utilize this information, and related witnesses and evidence, to blackmail the government. They can reasonably argue that the recent criminal investigation of the Justice Department in Chicago may be the continuation of previous illegal surveillance and investigations conducted by the DOJ and FBI in violation of FISA law and ELSUR regulations. By doing this they would be playing the Fruit of Poisonous Tree legal card. Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally. The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the "tree") of the evidence or the evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained (the "fruit") from it is tainted as well.

Hastert’s attorneys can reasonably claim that since the use of FISA and FBI’s counterintelligence units in violation of FISA to target public officials were illegal, and since Hastert’s current case may be the extension of those illegal operations, the government would be exposing its own unlawful deeds if it were to move forward with the criminal charges against Hastert.

…

Currently both parties are engaged in intense discussions. The discussions are wrapped in absolute secrecy with neither providing a hint. Considering the facts on the ground, the two delay requests jointly filed back-to-back with the court, and the Hastert legal team’s self-assuredly expressed intention to demand that the government drop all charges against its client, point to a scheme that consists of graymail and blackmail legal tactics, backed up by solid historical evidence and witnesses.

Last week in our coverage of the Hastert Case we predicted and explained why and how prosecutors would be forced to ‘lose’ or ‘drop’ the Hastert Case. With the filing of this second request for delay we are getting closer to seeing that prediction come true. Meanwhile we’ll wait and see what transpires next.

# # # #

Sibel Edmonds is editor and publisher of Boiling Frogs Post, founder and president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), and author of the acclaimed book Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story, and The Lone Gladio, a Political Spy Thriller. Ms. Edmonds is a certified linguist, fluent in four languages, and has an MA in public policy from George Mason University and a BA in criminal justice and psychology from George Washington University. She is the recipient of the 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award.

How Jones-Lewinsky Scandals led to the 1996 White House Classified Directive for FBI COINTELPRO II

Hello everyone, and welcome to the 23rd episode of Probable Cause. This is our second episode on the case of Dennis Hastert. In our first segment I briefly explained the case and why it is likely to be dropped or lost-on-purpose, and provided you with the broad picture of involved interests and those with much at stake if the case were to proceed as a ‘real’ case.

For this episode I am going to take you back twenty years to when the FBI’s covert and illegal operations targeting high-profile US officials, elected and appointed, began. I will go on-record with the White House Covert Order during Bill Clinton’s Administration directing the FBI to begin conducting new COINTELPRO operations in response to two sexual scandals and the likely risk of impeachment.

I’ll talk about the FBI’s illegal surveillance of government officials and misuse of FISA, how the information was used by the US government, the cases of three FBI insiders who spoke up and reported these operations, how and why those cases were classified and gagged by the US government and censored by the US media, and finally, how all this will come into play in the coming trial of Dennis Hastert.

All right; I think this is a great point at which to start this episode, which is fully-loaded with explosive facts. I am going to start with a press release disseminated in March 2007 by NSWBC, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, an organization I started in 2004, with over 150 former and current intelligence and law enforcement veterans.

Two FBI Whistleblowers Confirm Illegal Wiretapping of Government Officials and Misuse of FISA

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) has obtained a copy of an official complaint filed by a veteran FBI Special Agent, Gilbert Graham, with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG). SA Graham’s protected disclosures report the violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in conducting electronic surveillance of high-profile U.S. public officials.

Before his retirement in 2002, SA Gilbert Graham worked for the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) Squad NS-24. One of the main areas of Mr. Graham’s counterintelligence investigations involved espionage activities by Turkish officials and agents in the United States. On April 2, 2002, Graham filed with the DOJ-OIG a classified protected disclosure, which provided a detailed account of FISA violations involving misuse of FISA warrants to engage in domestic surveillance. In his unclassified report SA Graham states: “It is the complainant’s reasonable belief that the request for ELSUR [electronic surveillance] coverage was a subterfuge to collect evidentiary information concerning public corruption matters.” Graham blew the whistle on this illegal behavior, but the actions were covered up by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s office.

The report filed by SA Graham bolsters another FBI whistleblower’s case that became public several months after Graham’s official filing with the Justice Department in 2002. Sibel Edmonds, former FBI Language Specialist, also worked for the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO), and her assignments included the translations of Turkish Counterintelligence documents and audiotapes, some of which were part of espionage investigations led by SA Graham. After she filed her complaint with the DOJ-OIG and Congress, she was retaliated against by the FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Court proceedings in Edmonds’ case were blocked by the assertion of the State Secrets Privilege by then Attorney General John Ashcroft, and the Congress gagged and prevented from investigating her case through retroactive re-classification of documents by DOJ.

Edmonds’ complaint included allegations of illegal activities by Turkish organizations and their agents in the United States, and the involvement of certain elected and appointed U.S. officials in the Department of State, Pentagon, and the U.S. Congress in these activities. In its September 2005 issue, Vanity Fair ran a comprehensive piece on Edmonds’ case by reporter David Rose, in which several former and current congressional and Justice Department officials identified former House Speaker Dennis Hastert as being involved in illegal activities with the Turkish organizations and personnel targeted in FBI investigations. In addition, Rose reported: “…much of what Edmonds reportedly heard seemed to concern not state espionage but criminal activity.”

Another Former Veteran FBI Counterintelligence and Espionage Specialist at FBI Headquarters in Washington DC also filed similar reports with DOJ-OIG and several congressional offices regarding violations of FISA implementation and the covering up of several espionage cases involving FBI Language Specialists and public corruption cases by the Bureau. The cases reported by this whistleblower corroborate those reported by SA Graham and Sibel Edmonds. In an interview with NSWBC investigators the former FBI Specialist, who wished to remain anonymous, stated: “…you are looking at covering up massive public corruption and espionage cases; to top that off you have major violations of FISA by the FBI Washington Field Office and HQ targeting these cases. Everyone involved has motive to cover up these reports and prevent investigation and public disclosure. No wonder they invoked the state secrets privilege in Edmonds’ case.”

I will post the link to the original press release and SA Graham’s redacted report signed and filed with DOJ’s Inspector General’s Office.

So you have two FBI insiders blowing the whistle on the same operations, and another veteran FBI agent doing the same thing but anonymously. One is a decorated veteran agent, Gilbert Graham, with 25+ years in FBI’s Counterintelligence Unit, one is a linguist-analyst who worked on the same counterintelligence operations, and another a senior special agent from the same division who had not retired at the time of the release. These cases were filled individually, totally separate from each other. All three cases resulted in classification, redaction, gag orders, invocation of State Secrets Privilege, and of course, severe retaliation.

Now: what were these illegal operations? When did they occur? By whose directive or order? Who were they targeting? Why? Ultimately, what happened to those operations? Why? How does all this relate to the Dennis Hastert Case? What is at stake as far as the FBI and DOJ go? What is at stake as far as the Clinton and Bush administrations are concerned? What do dozens of other very high-profile US officials have to worry about?

Rather than bombarding you with too much information, I am going to answer the first category of these questions for this episode. I will leave the others for following episodes. Okay Let’s begin.

1996- Bill Clinton Orders the DOJ & FBI to Begin COINTELPRO II

In mid-1996, still bogged down with the Paula Jones Scandal, a case that refused to quickly go away, while preparing for another sexual scandal, the Monica Lewinski case, Bill Clinton and his top White House team put together a political retaliation plan meant to retaliate against and then neutralize the Republican Party and key elected Republican officials. The main objective of the plan was to:

Collect major dirt on key Republican officials

Use the information to blackmail those Republicans as a means to prevent impeachment

Strategically release the cases of those who did not back down by blackmail if the impeachment process were to proceed

It was a good plan. However, this was not a plan that could be directly executed by the White House. They needed the Justice Department and the FBI, which not only had existing information on the target Republicans, but the ability to quickly gather more useable dirt.

After several meetings and consultation sessions, the White House had what they needed, including cover and justification, with Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI’s Director Louis Freeh, both their own hand-picked and appointed people.

One of the main divisions in the FBI, with full access and capacity to collect the needed dirt, was the FBI’s Counterintelligence Unit that operated under FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ACT). So, with a special covert waiver from the White House, the FBI’s counterintelligence unit was directed to conduct a ‘Special Surveillance Program’ and given a set of operations and targets that went with that.

Of course, the lower-level agents, those who actually performed the operations, were told neither the reason nor the purpose. It was just that all of a sudden their operational scope, together with the means and certain abilities, was suddenly expanded.

But not all agents are equally blind or stupid. Based on hushed whispers, floating rumors, and what was taking place with Bill Clinton’s sexual scandals, some were able to add two and two and arrived at a solid unquestionable Four.

For their new operation certain previously strict FISA rules were relaxed, while others were totally over-ridden - eliminated.

Now, let’s go back and revisit the press release and the report by Veteran Special Agent Gilbert Graham, since he was one of those non-blind thinking agents:

SA Graham’s protected disclosures report the violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in conducting electronic surveillance of high-profile U.S. public officials.

On April 2, 2002, Graham filed with the DOJ-OIG a classified protected disclosure, which provided a detailed account of FISA violations involving misuse of FISA warrants to engage in domestic surveillance. In his unclassified report SA Graham states: “It is the complainant’s reasonable belief that the request for ELSUR [electronic surveillance] coverage was a subterfuge to collect evidentiary information concerning public corruption matters.”

…

Okay everyone, doesn’t it make more sense now?

Same with my own case:

Edmonds’ complaint included allegations of illegal activities by Turkish organizations and their agents in the United States, and the involvement of certain elected and appointed U.S. officials.

…

Now, back to the results and the Clinton Administration: Their strategy, the new covert COINTELPRO, proved to be highly successful. Let me give you a few examples:

In 1998, the Speaker of the House, Bob Livingston, resigned due to his exposed sex scandals. Let me read from an article published by Chicago Tribune in December 1998:

On the eve of the House debate to impeach President Clinton for lying about sex with Monica Lewinsky, House Speaker-elect Bob Livingston told his Republican colleagues Thursday night that he had strayed from his marriage and had adulterous affairs.

…

Guess what? He was not the only Republican targeted by the FBI’s new COINTELPRO, blackmailed, and later, strategically outed by never-identified insiders tipping off the media. I’ll continue to read:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho), and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) acknowledged affairs in the wake of the Lewinsky investigation. Hyde admitted to an affair 30 years ago, and Burton acknowledged having a child out of wedlock.

…

And here comes the most significant quote from CNN on December 21, 1998:

Early Saturday morning before the impeachment vote, House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston called majority whip Tom DeLay with a piece of news: I'm resigning. When he made the same announcement on the House floor, it was his second bombshell in three days. The first was his forced confession--the media were about to out him--that "I have on occasion strayed from my marriage." Livingston gave no details, which left Hustler publisher Larry Flynt to spread around whatever he pleased. With no sign of proof, Flynt claimed four women had told his staff about past liaisons with Livingston. Flynt said he has a tape of Livingston engaging in "raunchy" phone sex

…

Do you know where those phone records came from? That’s right. The information, the recorded sexual acts, all came from the FBI’s counterintelligence unit in Washington DC.

Guess what? Are you familiar with my State Secrets Privilege Gallery, released in 2008? You have the link at the bottom of this post. Let’s just say, Bob Livingston and Dan Burton are both in that gallery; they have been since 2008. Consistency and sticking to the facts is good; isn’t it?

In fact, Bob Livingston, as soon as he resigned, registered with DOJ as a Foreign Agent and lobbyist. His top client was, of course, Turkey. Clinton has much to thank the FBI’s Counterintelligence Unit on Turkey for.

Now, let me read a few quotes on Dan Burton and his Turkish ties and interests, published by the American Prospect in December 2001, six months before my case became public:

He also took thousands of dollars in legal contributions from people with business interests in Turkey. Afterwards, he made a statement on the floor of the House of Representatives he had cribbed from a Turkish government official. The statement defended Turkey against well-documented charges that its government committed serious human rights violations against the Kurds.

In 1996, Burton made another floor statement that almost exactly echoed materials that Turkey's lobbying firm gave to members of Congress, according to The Los Angeles Times.

…

I believe with my 13-year old on-record case, Veteran Agent Gilbert Graham’s report, NSWBC press release, and all the examples and media quotes cited, you’re starting to grasp what I’m talking about here. We are not looking at some circumstantial evidence collected here and there. I am providing you with rock solid facts, supported by reports, articles, under-oath testimonies, and much more.

Time to make a full circle and go back to the case of Dennis Hastert. Dennis Hastert, who became the Speaker of the House after Bob Livingston’s resignation. I have to say that of all the FBI’s new COINTELPRO targets he, Dennis Hastert, had the thickest file. I would say the dirt on him would not be matched even if you were to put together all the dirt from all the other dirty targets.

However, the incredible amount of criminal, corruption and sexual scandals gathered on Hastert by the DOJ-FBI between 1996 and 2002 was never used, other than for ‘Blackmail.’. They never had to release those. Did the Clinton Administration blackmail Hastert with what they had during the initial stage; around 1997-1998? You bet. Did he bow? Obviously. So they let him continue. They protected him. In fact, they gave him such a level of immunity and such an untouchable status that he went on breezing through several scandals during his tenure.

Dennis Hastert’s untouchable status, first granted to him by Clinton and later continued by the Bush Administration, made him so bold that after the exposé by the Vanity Fair Article he continued his tenure in Congress for another two years - while engaged in all those criminal-corrupt activities, and as soon as he left Congress in 2007 he formally registered himself as a Foreign Agent for Turkey, and became a lobbyist for several million dollars a year.

Interestingly, his protected status was not only granted and observed by the government. This status applied to the US media as well. Can you imagine? In 2005 Vanity Fair publishes an explosive seven-page article with facts supported not only by me, but also by several other government insiders and congressional officials, yet, not a single US mainstream media outlet publishes a single word on it. Not a single word.

Now, 20 years since the start of COINTELPRO II, somehow, for some reason, due to someone, somewhere, it’s been decided to bring some significant criminal financial activities and sexual abuse charges against this same Dennis Hastert.

What would happen if the case proceeded, if the case were treated as a ‘real’ case, if the case put on the stand ‘real’ witnesses, if the case admitted all real documents and evidence? What would happen?

Clinton and his counsel and advisors during his tenure would be exposed. The FBI and its new COINTELPRO operations re-sanctioned in 1996 and its violations of law, including FISA, would be exposed. Other US officials who have been successfully blackmailed and kept in line, together with all their criminal and sexual violations, would be outed. Previously quashed and gagged whistleblower cases such as mine and Graham’s and several others’ would see the light of day. The American public, at least many of them, would wake up and admit to the realities governing their government and so-called representatives.

As John Lennon said: ‘Imagine.’ But can you really imagine that? I can’t. This is why I expect the case to be dropped, or on purpose to be fought-to-lose.

Well, it is time to wrap up our second episode in the series on the Dennis Hastert case, the main players, the ‘real’ records, and a court case that will be going away.

Thank you for joining me on this 23rd edition of Probable Cause. Several links with related information and articles will be posted on the website under this episode. I am looking forward to your responses, questions and all your comments. I’ll be back soon to pick up where we left off. So long, and until then.

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Sibel Edmonds is editor and publisher of Boiling Frogs Post, founder and president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), and author of the acclaimed book Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story, and The Lone Gladio, a Political Spy Thriller. Ms. Edmonds is a certified linguist, fluent in four languages, and has an MA in public policy from George Mason University and a BA in criminal justice and psychology from George Washington University. She is the recipient of the 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award.

How Jones-Lewinsky Scandals led to the 1996 White House Classified Directive for FBI COINTELPRO II

Welcome to the 23rd edition of Probable Cause. This is our second episode on the case of Dennis Hastert. In our first segment I briefly explained the case and why it is likely to be dropped or lost-on-purpose, and provided you with the broad picture of involved interests and those with much at stake if the case were to proceed as a ‘real’ case.

In this episode we are going back twenty years to when the new FBI covert and illegal operations targeting high-profile US officials, elected and appointed, began. I will go on-record with the White House classified directive issued in 1996 directing the DOJ-FBI to begin conducting a new COINTELPRO operation using its counterintelligence divisions and bypassing FISA regulations in response to two sexual scandals and the likely risk of impeachment.

I’ll talk about the FBI’s illegal surveillance of government officials and misuse of FISA, how the information was used by the US government, the cases of three FBI insiders who spoke up and reported these operations, how and why those cases were classified and gagged by the US government and censored by the US media, and finally, how all this will come into play in the coming trial of Dennis Hastert.

As always, our next episode will be based on your reaction, critique, responses and questions posed in the comments section below.

Former AG Mukasey on Terrorist Organization MEK Payroll

By Coleen Rowley

Dear Department of Justice and Department of Treasury Officials:

We might have just helped you bag another material supporter of terrorism this week! And you'll never believe who the culprit is! We were even able to tape record some of his own damning admissions! (That's the reason for my calls last week to your duty attorneys and media offices.)

As you know, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has an ongoing investigation into several high profile former political figures, trying to discover their financial transactions with the terrorists in the Mujaheddin e Khalq aka "MEK". One of the former political officials apparently being investigated for his financial transactions and paid advocacy on behalf of MEK is former Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Well Mukasey happened to get tapped on March 15 to give an "ethical leadership" speech at the University of St. Thomas Law School and some of us went to hear what he had to say. As an aside, the overall thrust of his speech was anything but ethical. Instead he mostly defended the Bush Administration and its lawyers for having used their talents "to push the legal limits" of what the Executive Branch could do in its "war on terror." (Of course there are many legal scholars who think those Bush attorneys pushed over the legal limits.) He especially defended John Yoo and Robert Delahunty (now a St. Thomas law professor) who working in Bush's Office of Legal Counsel, co-wrote memos in early 2002 claiming the U.S. did not have to follow the Geneva Conventions. Researchers have since gained evidence through multiple interviews of returned soldiers that the major factor in U.S. troops' having committed atrocities and abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as terrible torture of detainees was their being told they no longer had to follow the Geneva Conventions. But Mukasey didn't seem to care much about any abuses or torture. In fact, although he refused to answer during his Senate Confirmation hearing whether waterboarding was torture, he explicitly declared that waterboarding is not torture and therefore was/is not illegal as practiced by CIA contractors.[Read more...]